GTB acquires 70% shares of Kenyan bank

Guaranty Trust Bank (GT Bank) yesterday announced that it had reached an agreement to acquire a 70 per cent stake in Kenya's Fina Bank Limited for $100 million (N16 billion). Fina Bank has total assets of $338 million with operations in Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, a GT Bank statement said.

It added that its agreement to acquire the privately-held Kenyan bank is subject to regulatory approvals. "GT Bank will enter East Africa through a multi-country and scalable platform, thus expanding its international presence in sub-Saharan Africa," the Nigerian lender said. Shares in GT Bank, which have gained 13 percent since the start of the year, inched up 1.66 percent to N26.40 per share yesterday around $5 billion.

The top-tier bank said it will acquire the majority stake in Fina Bank, set up in 1991, through a share purchase from current shareholders and direct investment. GTB's Chief Executive, Mr. Segun Agbaje, had said the bank was eyeing expansion opportunities in East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda) after building up operations in West Africa to tap into the region's fast growing economies and ease of doing business.

[Newswatch]